Captain America: Brave New World Faces Harsh Reviews, Dipping To New MCU Low With Rotten Tomatoes Score Below Chris Evans’ Movies
Captain America: Brave New World faces harsh reviews as Rotten Tomatoes rates it nearly half of Chris Evans’ Captain America movies, marking another low for the MCU.
Captain America: Brave New World (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest installment, Captain America: Brave New World, featuring Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson and the legendary Harison Ford as Red Hulk, has faced a barrage of polarized reviews. At the same time, critics have acknowledged Wilson and Ford’s performances as the high-point of the movie, as well as its screenplay and direction drawing questions.
The superhero cum conspiracy theory film’s review embargo was lifted after long-standing speculation on Wednesday, thanks to early releases in several overseas markets. However, critics there were far from kind. The movie currently holds a 51% “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 5.6/10, after more than 130 reviews were in.
At one instant, Captain America: Brave New World’s Rotten Tomatoes score sank as low as 46%, tying Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as the worst-rated MCU film to date. It then slightly rebounded to the third-lowest spot, trailing behind Quantumania and Eternals. While Rotten Tomatoes scores fluctuate, they are expected to remain within this vicinity and this rotten.
Over on Metacritic, the movie fared even worse — after incorporating most of the projected sixty reviews, it received an all-time MCU low rating of just 43, indicating “mixed” reviews. This also marks a stark drop from Quantumania’s already disappointing 48 and only slightly shy of the “generally negative reviews” remark, highlighted in red.
In stark contrast, Chris Evans’ tenure as Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, was met with widespread acclaim, with all accounting certified “fresh” rating on the review aggregator’s website. While The First Avenger garnered an 80% rating, both The Winter Soldier and Civil War achieved splendid 90% scores, making Evans’ trilogy the second most successful film series within the MCU, second only to The Avengers.
The numbers of Captain America: Brave New World, on the other hand, highlight a significant decline of nearly 45% from MCU’s golden days. Industry insiders had anticipated such a lukewarm reception for Captain America: Brave New World, especially after reports surfaced about multiple reshoots and negative feedback from test screenings.
Like Ant-Man: Quantumania, Brave New World has additional concerns with its box office potential. Despite opening over a four-day holiday weekend — including Valentine’s Day and President’s Day — it is expected to debut below $95 million, a 10% drop from the Paul Rudd-led threequel’s standard three-day opening in February. The movie has also been pointed out to carry little appeal in overseas markets.
With 2025 already seven weeks in and still not a blockbuster, the industry is focusing on upcoming releases. However, with Snow White as March’s only major film — one already facing its fair share of controversy — the box office may not recover until summer when MCU’s own Thunderbolts kicks off the season.
